The three-member mediation panel appointed by the Supreme Court to look into the possibility of a negotiated settlement in the Ram Janmabhoomi land dispute on Thursday (1 August) expressed its inability to resolve the contentious issue, reports Times of India.
The SC bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices SA Bobde, DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazir will now reportedly take up the matter today (2 August) and could fix a schedule for the day-to-day hearing in the case.
The mediation panel was appointed on 8 March by the apex court to explore possibility of a negotiated settlement in the matter. The SC appointed the panel while hearing a number of appeals challenging the September 2010 verdict of Allahabad High Court in which it divided the disputed land equally among the three parties in the case - Ram Lalla, Nirmohi Akhara and Sunni Waqf Board.
The SC on 18 July had ordered the mediation panel, comprising former SC judge FMI Kalifulla, senior advocate Sriram Panchu and spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravishankar, to inform the Court of the outcome of the mediation proceedings till 31 July by 1 August, reports Hindustan Times.
As per the ToI report, the panel conveyed that they had failed to strike a consensus among rival parties and it was time to wind up the mediation process.